IPL 2021 to resume on September 19: BCCI

The remainder of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played from September 19 and October 15 in the UAE as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials confirmed on Wednesday, June 9. There were a lot of speculations going around after the Special General Meeting (SGM) which was held on May 29 regarding the dates of the remaining 31 IPL games.

While the BCCI was pondering over in the month of September, the confirmation of the start of the event was still in doubt. Now, the BCCI have finally put all those doubts to rest by confirming the dates for the eight-team tournament.

While the Indian board is still negotiating with foreign boards on the availability of various players from England, Australia, West Indies and South Africa, there is no official word as of yet. But now the dates are out and BCCI might make things work out.

“IPL will be held between September 19 and October 15,” Rajeev Shukla, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), as reported by Times Now.

ICC to release fixtures of the T20 World Cup 2021 soon

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah also had a virtual meeting on June 1 with ICC to discuss the possibility of hosting the T20 World Cup in India. For the same, the BCCI have requested time till June 28. Right after the IPL finishes, the global event is slated to begin immediately and if not India then probably UAE will host the showpiece event.

The ICC also cleared its stance on IPL finishing just before the T20 World Cup starts stating there is no mandatory gap required between the two events. “We will release the dates and venue of T20 World Cup only in July. We cannot comment on it as of now. But there is no rule on the need of a gap ahead of an ICC event. The ICC needs 10 days to prepare the pitch and the ground ahead of an event. That too is a norm and not a rule,” said an ICC official.

When quizzed further if players will be worn out due to little gap between the conclusion of IPL and the T20 World Cup, Shukla added that a small gap will not be a problem as such as the initial round of the global matches involves non-Test playing nations.